Platform Statement
Walk This Way: The Path of Leadership
"The whole point of being alive is to evolve into the complete person you were intended to be." when I first heard Oprah Winfrey say this, I wrote it down knowing that I liked the phrase. However, in the last few years, I've discovered personal meaning in it. I've found that the best way to evolve into that person is by serving the world around us. Being a positive, contributing member of society requires us to step up and give of ourselves without being asked. This inner motivation is a huge step toward being a successful leader and feeling fulfilled in the life you are leading.
I have been blessed with the wonderful opportunity to partner with organizations that allow me to speak to and work with high school and middle school students from across the state. In just two years, I've worked with just under 4,000 students from North Dakota. Each one of them is so full of ideas and has so much to contribute. One thing that has become very clear is that the youth of today are not the leaders of tomorrow. They're leaders now. A leader is someone who does something, and our youth do a lot! The young people of North Dakota absolutely have the power to change their world, which consists of their family, friends, schools, and communities. By empowering these students to make a difference by starting small and working to accomplish bigger goals, a real difference can be made in each community and eventually, the entire state. Many students are already natural leaders and are organizing large scale service events; however, some need a little inspiration.
Inspiration can come from our own personal role models. Many leaders lead by example making it easy for others to follow. This makes the connection between being a leader and a role model very strong. The young people of this state do such a wonderful job of motivating one another. So, rather than just telling North Dakota students how to be leaders, we need to praise them for the leadership roles they've already assumed and encourage them to continue in these roles. If more students hear this praise and recognize how easily we fall into the positions of leaders and role models, our state's future will be so much brighter.
Unfortunately, North Dakota has some embarrassing statistics involving alcohol and young people. If ever there was a time for students to step up and be leaders, it's now. For this reason and many others, I need to talk to more than just 4,000 students. I need to connect with every student in the state. There are so many young people who have not yet made choices that will impact their lives negatively, but the pressure is increasing. These students are excellent, strong leaders for their peers and need to be brought into the spotlight in order to inspire their classmates to follow them down the path of personal strength and leadership. By helping each student discover the leader within themselves, these statistics can and will change in a positive way.
I have already spoken to thousands of students. Just imagine how many students could be motivated to make a difference in their schools and enrich their personal lives if I held the key to every school district in the state. As Miss North Dakota 2010, my collaboration with students will bring powerful and lasting changes to our state.
